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A Rose by Any Other Name

April 26, 2007
I almost missed the boat on this wine event, the Catavino Virtual Rose tasting, which Dr.Debs told me to write up the Preston Vin Gris I was twittering about the other night for. However, I had already reviewed that one and didn't take any notes. But the weather is inspiring me to dig into my lighter wines, so another rose tonight. This one just arrived in a club shipment last week and only managed to make it into my Cellartracker on Sunday.

The wine is a 2006 Quivira Grenache Rose. It had a real cork closure and clocks in at 14.1% alcohol by volume, a lot stronger than I am used to in a Rose. Unfortunately, I can't find a price for it anywhere and my packing slip is gone, but judging by the amount billed to my credit card and the cost of the other wines in the shipment, my educated guess is that it is no more than $16.

I served this with a beef stroganoff over wheat egg noodles. I think it would have paired better with the pasta and fresh tomato sauce I served the other night and the Syrah I drank with that would have been even better with this meal (that review will be up soon!).

The first notable thing about this Rose is the color. It's very unusual, though I'm not sure my photo does it much justice. It's almost an orangey-salmon color, and very lightly colored, you can see right through it when it's in the glass.

On the nose there are crisp strawberries and the slightest hint of watermelon. Also, a spicy note that I can't quite place. The alcohol is there a bit too, it's not offensive and blows off quickly, but to me it was odd for that to be there on a Rose. In the mouth, this a tart and incredibly dry wine. Quite possibly the driest Rose I have ever had. The mouth is full of strawberries, but the strawberries are heavy. If the makes any sense at all. Overall, I liked this Rose, though I've had others made from different grapes that I've enjoyed more, most notably a Merlot based Rose from Wilson Winery.

Now, I probably have 3 or 4 other roses hanging around in my collection at the moment, all of which I've reviewed already. I don't have any from locations other than California, so I hope to get to the wine shop before April 30 so I can do a full comparison. Thanks for hosting this Catavino!

5 comments:

  1. winedeb said...

    Dr. Deb's got me into the rose' forum also. I am enjoying this tremendously as Rose' goes so well down here in the Keys. I even have another one to try tonight and will probably post about tomorrow on my site and Catavino's. Time to take notes on everyone's suggestions. Thanks!

    4/26/07, 1:25 PM  

  2. Mr Besilly said...

    I was totally inspired by your passion for wine. I also enjoyed the great links in your posts. Great stuff. I just completed a post on Crushpad custom winemaking and included a Wannabe Wino link in my opening line. Your love of wine is truly Infectious! www.mrbesilly.com

    4/26/07, 7:04 PM  

  3. Sonadora said...

    winedeb-I can definitely see how your weather would call for the Roses!

    Mr Besilly- Thank you very much for your kind words, and welcome to my blog! Please come back often!

    4/27/07, 9:16 AM  

  4. Anonymous said...

    Thanks for joining in on the tasting! I'm really happy to see people like yourself enjoying it so much! Can't wait till next month...

    4/27/07, 11:04 AM  

  5. Sonadora said...

    Ryan, thanks for hosting, it was fun! I don't know if we can sneak in another one as we close on our house in a day....

    4/28/07, 8:00 PM  

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